whack-a-dog

These are prototypes for the Whack-a-Dog: a foam dog head that responds to pressure. Individual dogs geo-locate through a laptop connection. When force is exerted on them, they scrape local PetFinder listings and describe themselves based on a single listing. Larger force readings mean the dog is more likely to be a Pit Bull or Rottweiler, while smaller force readings render the dog as a Labrador. Dogs speak using an implementation of FreeTTS (an open source speech synthesizer) inside of Processing. Force readings are taken using an Arduino setup with attached force sensors.

The first prototype (blue) uses a force sensor attached at its base. The second prototype (white) uses flex sensors embedded in the ears of the dog to record feedback.